Leicester's players should be grateful that Dave Bassett is 57 rather than 37 or many would have been in hospital last night. To suggest Bassett was furious after a defeat which dumped his team bottom was an understatement.

"If I was a younger manager I would have beaten half the team up," he said. "I'd probably have used a baseball bat." As it was he stuck to a verbal lashing which must have been painful enough.

Ipswich, Bassett felt, "were there for the taking" but had been gifted two second-half goals which his players lacked the "moral fibre and character" to come back from. What is needed for Leicester to stay up? "The season to be abandoned," he replied.

Bassett made it clear he does not expect many of his squad to be offered a move back to the top flight if they go down, a possibility which strengthened after goals by Marcus Bent and Sixto Peralta gave Ipswich a second straight win and saw them swap places with their opponents.

"They're playing for their futures and their careers but they don't seem to realise how important it is for them and the club," he said. "If I were them I'd be keeping the videos to prove I've played in the Premiership. What annoys me is that only (my assistant) Mickey Adams and I seem to be getting irritated."

Bassett described the mistake Lee Marshall was guilty of in the lead-up to Ipswich's first goal as an "elementary error an amateur wouldn't make" and was right to suggest Leicester had looked in little danger of losing before half-time. "The players shot themselves in the foot," he said. The idea that his rant might upset his team did not bother him.

"If they're mentally weak and don't like what I say they won't play for me," he said. "Then there'll be a players strike, I hope. Micky Adams and I can only do so much and players have got to stand up.

"All we had to do was keep ourselves and we would have got a 0-0 at the worst," Bassett said, but the game soon turned. First James Scowcroft missed a chance against his former club and then Ipswich scored twice in seven minutes.

Marshall was caught in possession by Martijn Reuser, who crossed for Bent to head in, and the Dutchman set up Peralta for a low finish.

IPSWICH: Sereni, Makin, Bramble, Venus, Hreidarsson, George (Wright 62), Holland, Peralta (Magilton 85), Reuser, Armstrong (Naylor 75), Marcus Bent. Subs not used: Branagan, Clapham. Goals: Marcus Bent 48, Peralta 55.

LEICESTER: Walker, Marshall (Impey 66), Sinclair, Elliott, Stewart (Davidson 66), Savage, Izzet, Oakes, Rogers (Akinbiyi 58), Deane, Scowcroft. Subs not used: Flowers, Wise. Booked: Izzet, Sinclair.

Referee: N Barry (Scunthorpe).